Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Andy’s POV*

Taking Eliza to the Library seemed like a better and better idea the more I thought about it. Springing Tobias on her in the middle of the Village could potentially result in a total fiasco. Eliza would definitely realize that he wasn’t just your average villager, and Tobias wouldn’t recognize her as one of ours if they hadn’t been introduced.

Though I doubted Tobias would attack Eliza, he probably wouldn’t take kindly to being assaulted, nor sternly interrogated, if Eliza felt it was necessary to ‘defend’ me from him. Ugh. It would be even worse if they ran into each other for the first time when he was needed outside the Library for his kalman väki force. Or, gods, in battle, if I wasn’t there to intervene, they might believe they were foes! I shuddered to think of the consequences; visions of all six of them setting on my woman distressed me and served to increase my pace.

I glanced back at Eliza, and caught her eyeing my posterior rather transparently. She was totally unashamed to be caught, and just raised an eyebrow cockily. I couldn’t help but smile and decided that Steven’s ridiculously snug trousers were a success after all, if Eliza enjoyed them so. I didn’t mind her appreciation, I did have a smidge of an ego, I supposed…

When we approached the Library, I slowed a bit. I figured I should give Eliza some manner of warning. I bent as though to whisper sweet nothings in her ear, but instead said, “Please trust me that Tobias is one of the Wild Ones? He is an ally.”

Eliza pulled away a bit and gave me an exaggerated sultry look. “It gets me so wet when you talk to me about tribal involvement-“

I snorted. “-Devil’s bunions, woman, you’re terrible!” I took a breath before we walked the rest of the way to the large, oaken doors I’d been through so many, many times before.

With a whoosh, I opened one of them, and the familiar smell of books washed over me, at once both comforting and pleasant. We walked into the building, and I sensed Eliza tense, her whole posture changing. I had anticipated as much, she was a very intelligent woman. She had probably seen that the entire building was incredibly well lit, at Night, without a single flame.

Conjuration Healers don’t condone the use of their special talents for day-to-day life tasks and conveniences. Surely, Eliza had deduced a traditional ‘magic’ user was present, to use the old, mildly pejorative term. I wasn’t sure how she would react when she found out what kind; it could go very poorly. I was hoping to go over the details when we were alone, at the shelter. Most of the Village didn’t know the full story because they didn’t have to. But as my ward, Eliza would find out eventually by attending strategic meetings with me. I had no idea how she felt about old-fashioned sorcery or any of that, but she seemed to have an open mind about other things. My gut told me to have faith in her; that she, too, would be able to accept Tobias after she knew what he could do for the Wild Ones.

I led Eliza into the seemingly endless stacks, deciding to show her one of my favorite sections. Up ahead, I saw one of the Nameless Ghouls shelving some books from a trolley, and made an impulsive decision. I’d never been able to tell the Ghouls apart, so I just pointed. “See that?”

Eliza looked from the Nameless Ghoul, to me, to the Ghoul again. Their appearance varied between the Library and the battlefield, and also seemed to change at random over the years. I had no idea why. Today its whole face was gold, with little, curved horns. Though, like usual, it lacked a mouth. It was wearing a simple, black cassock. As always, it ignored us. Eliza frowned. “Is it a slave? Nothing should be enslaved, Andrew. Even the most wretched things deserve to be free.”

Oh shit. I looked at Eliza, and though she held her composure, she was clearly mad as a minotaur! So much for hoping she would ask questions later, best to address this so she didn’t try and slaughter Tobias. “I am being truthful when I say I don’t know. But I’ve watched them, the Nameless Ghouls, for many, many years, and they always seem to perform their duties with extreme abandon, to say the least. If we tried to ask it, it would ignore us. But we can ask Tobias. Please? Remember what I said?”

Eliza nodded, though she was clearly not pacified. Just then, seemingly by ‘coincidence,’ though I knew better, Tobias came walking around the corner of some shelving. Though Eliza had no way of knowing it, he hadn’t aged a day since the first time I’d met him, when I had been just a small child. I hadn’t known the full explanation for that until I became an Officer, and it still gave me the willies. However, I figured Eliza would notice right away the basic attributes that Tobias was lacking. Like Big Pete, Tobias had no wings, horns, or antennae, but their reasons were different, very different.

I found myself adjusting my hair impulsively as Eliza braced herself as though for a fight. “Andrew! It is good to see you.” Tobias paused a fair distance away, looking thoughtfully at Eliza. He waved a hand, and the Nameless Ghoul behind him wordlessly turned around and disappeared into the stacks.

I moved closer. “You as well, Tobias. This is Night Watchman Eliza, my ward. She-“

Tobias cut me off, though he still spoke softly. “-Is obviously very concerned, Second Officer. I take it, as your ward, she is privy to certain details, hmm? May I explain?”

I cracked my knuckles and glanced at Eliza, who looked impassive, though willing to listen. Fuckfuckfuck, this was NOT going how I had hoped! “She is, she’ll be with me at all times, including meetings, until the Council-“

I heard the door to the Library slam open and Ash scream, “Forge! Tent, NOW!”

Shit! Now? Of course it just had to be now!

Without another look at Tobias, I grabbed Eliza’s hand and dragged her towards the exit. “Tobias has to close the Library! Right now!” Eliza looked at me like I was out of my mind, but trusted me enough to run with me out the door.

We made it out just in time to see Ash in the distance, sprinting back towards the Healer’s Tent. Anticipating what was coming, I pulled Eliza clear from the entrance to the Library.

Seconds later, both doors slammed open as Papa Emeritus, face almost translucent and skeletal, yet not a midnight hair out of place, came shooting out into the Night air. All five Nameless Ghouls streamed after him, somehow generating a subtle, eerie whistling noise. Papa waved his hands and the Library doors banged shut and bolted as they all went tearing after Ash without touching the ground.

Eliza jerked me around to face her. “What the ever-loving fuck, Andrew?” She actually looked frightened. “What the fuck kind of librarian-“

I’d just have to show her, or she’d never believe me. We were originally headed to the Healer’s Tent next anyway, for Alice’s ceffyl dŵr, not that the water horse was likely on the list for tonight any longer, given recent developments. “-Just trust me, ok?” Eliza paused, her eyes twinkling green and sharp in the moonlight, then nodded. “I’ll show you. Come on, we’ll need to hurry.”

We jogged to the Healer’s Tent and what I saw inside made me instantly forget about catering to Eliza’s comfort level. Pete was covered in blood and stood silently just inside the entrance. Ronnie and Doyle stood further in, talking softly, but urgently, to Crilly. Crilly was bloody and looked like shit.

My stomach clenched when I saw that Papa was hovering horizontally over Nico, who looked white as a sheet. Nico’s abdomen was clearly ripped wide open, his guts splayed partially out on the table. I clenched my teeth, watching as Papa muttered, while Alice held Nico’s head, pressing on his temples, as Ash and Dani each held one of Nico’s hands and pulled on his fingers in odd patterns. The Nameless Ghouls drifted, still making small whispering noises, high above everyone, near the ceiling.

I had only seen this a handful of times before, but I figured it was best to create as little of a disturbance as possible. I watched as Papa shook dirt from his sleeves and pockets, sprinkling it around Nico’s face, into his hair, and onto his neck.I knew enough to recognize it as from the cemetery. I also knew enough to realize that the items he was shoving into Nico’s mouth were Fae bone chips. As a general rule, no one asked Papa where he got his materials, so long as they weren’t sourced from the Wild Ones…

One of the Ghouls sailed down and approached Nick, who didn’t flinch. Despite having no visible mouth, it somehow was able to speak with Papa’s rather arrogant voice, and proceeded to give orders. “The boy is very far gone. Put all the flames in the building out. They are distracting. Moisten his entrails, check for lacerations. If there are none, place them back in his body cavity. If they are torn, we waste our time.”

David overheard, and started putting out all the lanterns. A second Nameless Ghoul unnervingly followed him and would replace the doused flames with strangely glowing orbs that just appeared to manifest out of thin air.

Nick began working on wetting and inspecting Nico’s intestines, and I noticed that Alice had begun to sweat despite a relatively moderate temperature. I also realized I hadn’t seen Nico take a single breath.

Nick shook his head. “There’s a pinhole leak in-“

So they’d give up? No! “-Dammit, Nico’s a good kid! He’s a capable Watchman! You can’t-“

Everyone turned to face me, except Papa Emeritus and his Ghouls. Alice and the other Conjurers continued muttering, but glanced briefly my way. David put out the last lantern quickly. “-Andrew, don’t interfere. If Papa says the cause is lost-“

“-You’re talking about one of my Watchmen! What about blood magic? Take it from me! Why won't you try?” I looked at the Conjurers, getting furious, not believing what I was hearing. They needed to try!

I felt Doyle put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down, and it had some effect. I had great respect for Doyle and still considered him a Commanding Officer of mine. I caught his eye and nodded, taking a breath and forcing myself to wait. I was encouraged that no one seemed to have ceased their efforts completely yet. I saw Dani had also started to bead with sweat at his brow, and Alice looked a bit pained.

The Ghoul that had been following behind David trailed over to me, and spoke mouthlessly with Papa’s voice, rife with condescension. “The boy is very, very far. Blood magic will not work until he is closer. You are looking at the meat and bone shell. He has to return, to settle. It takes great skill to trick a soul into returning to something so messy. If it works, the boy will not be happy. It will take a lot more than blood magic to still him. Be ready.”

I scowled at the perpetually expressionless Ghoul. Papa could be such a weird creep. Just then, the tietäjä began to stomp his feet mid-air and shake his fists.

Fuck, that really was his last ditch effort! The hair of all the Nameless Ghouls, as well as Papa’s hair, all began to stand on end. I felt physically uncomfortable, there was a sort of tension in the air that made my stomach and balls ache as I watched, feeling helpless. Knowing that Nico’s life hung in the balance, that I could do nothing, made me feel ill.

Papa started yelling as he shook more, smacking Nico with handfuls of graveyard soil and rubbing it into his Adam’s apple, snarling it in his hair, stamping his feet, and looking like he was having some kind of seizure. My nerves felt strung out and shredded, the anxiety, the pressure in the air weighed on me, pushing in and around me, it was suffocating-

Nico sat bolt upright, spat the bone chips out of his mouth onto his open abdominal wound, and started shrieking brokenly in agony.

Notes

so- what do you think? will Nico survive? what do you think is Tobias' story?